OUTGOING Scottish Secretary David Mundell flip-flopped when questioned about whether or not he would serve in a Boris Johnson Cabinet. In the end it wasn’t his decision to make as the new Prime Minister gave dissenters their jotters in a ruthless cull before he’d even settled into his brand-new bed in No 10 for the first time.
Mundell’s replacement is 56-year-old married dad-of-three Dumfries and Galloway MP Alister Jack, who doesn’t have a Twitter account and who has represented his local area since the 2017 General Election when he defeated the SNP’s Richard Arkless.
READ MORE: David Mundell loses job in brutal Boris Johnson Cabinet purge
READ MORE: First Minister slams Boris Johnson 'blame-shifting' on Brexit
That was not his first attempt, however. In 1997 Jack ran in the Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale constituency where he also finished ahead of the SNP but polled third behind Labour’s Keith Geddes and Michael Moore of the LibDems – who also went on to become Scottish secretary.
Jack also served as Tory party vice-chairman while William Hague led the party in the late 1990s.
Before that he was educated at Glenalmond, then situated at Heriot-Watt University, before making millions in the self-storage industry and through co-founding the tent-hire firms Field & Lawn. He continues to run a dairy farm in his constituency.
He is a Deputy Lieutenant for Dumfries and a member of the Royal Company of Archers, the Queen's official bodyguard unit in Scotland.
Jack’s rise through parliamentary party ranks since his election is pretty impressive, becoming Lord Commissioner of the Treasury after serving as parliamentary private secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords.
His short time as an MP so far did not get off to the best of starts, however, when two months after his victory, The Herald reported that Jack owned more than £70,000 of shares in a company registered in a territory described as the world’s “worst” tax haven.
In April this year he was made a government whip having served as an assistant for two months and as a parliamentary private secretary before that.
Jack's voting record reveals the new Scottish Secretary has hardly ever rebelled against the Conservative Party and he didn't publicly back any candidate during the recent leadership contest.
He did, however, along with 61 of his Tory colleagues, sign a letter calling on the UK Government to make a “clean break” with the EU. He also voted Leave despite representing a constituency which voted by 53% to remain.
He says he doesn’t accept terms like “hard” and “soft” Brexit and wants the UK to have access to the single market on a tariff-free basis.
Jack voted in favour of Theresa May’s doomed Brexit deal in February while voting for amendments which would have made a no-deal exit more difficult.
The new Scottish Secretary favours “sovereignty” for the UK and a Brexit deal which would have divided the nation, yet is against “divisive constitutional change” when it comes to the precious Union.
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